Santorum goes on defensiveRepublican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was thrown on the defensive during a debate as rival Mitt Romney attacked the former senator over spending and earmarks. (By Dan Balz and Sandhya Somashekhar)

America’s dissidents are its power COLUMN | Rewarding contrarians is quintessentially American, and it’s what keeps the country ahead of others in its ability to innovate. ( by Vivek Wadhwa , The Washington Post)

METROWilliam G. Banfield II, NIH researcher William G. Banfield II, 91, a physician and research scientist at the National Institutes of Health who specialized in research on viruses, died Jan. 13. (, The Washington Post)

POLITICSSantorum goes on defensive Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was thrown on the defensive during a debate as rival Mitt Romney attacked the former senator over spending and earmarks. ( by Dan Balz and Sandhya Somashekhar , The Washington Post)

Small donors and the enthusiasm gap Compared with the other GOP candidates, Mitt Romney is getting less support from small donors — and some say that’s evidence of a bigger problem. (, The Washington Post)

Gwynn Park, Wise win crowns Agyei Gregory makes six three-pointers as the Gwynn Park boys’ team wins the Prince George’s County championship. Wise won the girls’ title. ( by James Wagner , The Washington Post)

Without Ovechkin, Caps continue slide Alex Ovechkin sits out with a lower-body injury and Washington digs a deep hole early for the second straight game on the way to a third consecutive loss. ( by Katie Carrera , The Washington Post)

Wizards fade into all-star break Washington wastes a game-high 32 points from Jordan Crawford and a near triple-double from John Wall and head into the all-star break with a fourth straight loss. ( by Michael Lee , The Washington Post)

Huntington Prep: An after-school special At Huntington Prep, enrollment is 12 and the only course is Basketball 101. Class is in session after players finish at nearby St. Joseph’s Central Catholic. ( by Josh Barr In Huntington, W. Va. , The Washington Post)

WORLD100,000 Russians rally for Putin “We will win,” Putin tells supporters in his main campaign rally before the March 4 presidential election. ( by Kathy Lally , The Washington Post)

More than 50 killed in bombings across Iraq Attacks, carried out with car bombs and small arms, appeared to target security forces in Baghdad and other cities. ( by Asaad Alazawi and Ernesto Londono , The Washington Post)

Profiting in Afghanistan The need for interpreters has produced a major contracting boom for what started as a small company in Ohio. (, The Washington Post)

Reporter Marie Colvin killed in Syria Marie Colvin, 56, built a reputation as one of the bravest foreign correspondents of her generation. She died Feb. 22 in the besieged Syrian city of Homs. ( by Emily Langer , The Washington Post)

Voluntary guidelines backed for Web privacy The Obama administration plans to announce voluntary guidelines for Web companies to protect consumers’ privacy online, a win for Google, Facebook and other Internet giants that have fought against heavier federal mandates. ( by Cecilia Kang , The Washington Post)

Romney’s tax plan If you follow the numbers in Mitt Romney’s latest tax proposal, and the policies they imply, it may not be the narrative the campaign wants. (, The Washington Post)

U.S. ‘doesn’t see the need’ to pump up IMF A Treasury official says ahead of weekend meetings among top economic powers that Europe can afford its own crisis response. ( by Howard Schneider , The Washington Post)

Window firms agree to settlement with FTC Five companies that sell replacement windows agreed to stop making “exaggerated and unsupported” claims about their products’ energy efficiency as part of a settlement announced by the Federal Trade Commission. ( by Dina ElBoghdady , The Washington Post)

NATIONWhite House weighs further nuclear arms cuts The Obama administration is contemplating further cuts to the nation’s nuclear arsenal, but any decisions are unlikely until Russia and the United States can resume nonproliferation negotiations. ( by Craig Whitlock and Walter Pincus , The Washington Post)

Crowd-sourcing Syria’s map Syrian opposition activists are not waiting for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to fall before they seek to wipe his name off the map — via Google crowd-sourcing. ( by Colum Lynch , The Washington Post)

Efforts lag to improve care for National Guard National Guard and military reservces members report higher rates of mental health problems than active-duty troops. ( by Lauren Everitt, Andrew Theen and Gulnaz Saiyed , The Washington Post)

POLITICSVa. lawmakers manage ‘crossover day’ The House and Senate had to pass their bills Tuesday and get them to the other chamber or let them die. ( by Laura Vozzella and Anita Kumar , The Washington Post)

Md. same-sex marriage bill advances The bill was sent by a two-committee vote to the full House, where its prospects are uncertain. ( by John Wagner and Aaron C. Davis , The Washington Post)

Congressional negotiators reach tentative deal on payroll tax Congressional negotiators reached a bipartisan framework Tuesday for extending a payroll tax holiday, unemployment benefits and Medicare payment rates for doctors, while finding more than $50 billion in cuts to reduce the package’s effect on the federal deficit. ( by Paul Kane and David Nakamura , The Washington Post)

STYLEWUSA reporter balks after backlash The intensity of the reaction over a teen-drinking story became so overwhelming that Andrea McCarren pulled herself off air and handed her story to a colleague. ( by Paul Farhi , The Washington Post)

Boyfriend is secretive about porn A woman wants to know whether she needs to “just get over” her soon-to-be live-in boyfriend’s secretive use of pornography. (, The Washington Post)

‘New Jerusalem’ returns to Theater J Theater reprises its production of the drama about philospher Baruch de Spinoza and his stand on religion. ( by Jessica Goldstein , The Washington Post)

‘The Voice,’ ‘Smash’ winners for NBC The second week of NBC’s singing competition snagged more than 16 million viewers Monday from 8 to 10 p.m. — the time slot in which the network had averaged a measly 5.6 million viewers this season. (, The Washington Post)

SPORTSWizards hit bull’s-eye in Portland Nick Young scores a season-high 35 points and matches a career-high with seven three- pointers and John Wall adds 29 points as Washington shoots 60 percent and drills Portland for a second consecutive road victory. ( by Michael Lee , The Washington Post)

Patriots are Wright on the money Sherrod Wright drills a buzzer-beating three-pointer from 30 feet as George Mason stuns conference co-leader and archrival VCU at Patriot Center in Fairfax, 62-61. ( by Steven Goff , The Washington Post)

Old Mill snaps Arundel’s 20-game win streak Gavin Salmond drove the court for a last-second layup, but time should have run out before Old Mill’s 61-59 win that broke Arundel’s 20-game winning streak ( by Greg Schimmel , The Washington Post)

White House weighs further nuclear arms cuts The Obama administration is contemplating further cuts to the nation’s nuclear arsenal, but any decisions are unlikely until Russia and the United States can resume nonproliferation negotiations. ( by Craig Whitlock and Walter Pincus , The Washington Post)

Crowd-sourcing Syria’s map Syrian opposition activists are not waiting for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to fall before they seek to wipe his name off the map — via Google crowd-sourcing. ( by Colum Lynch , The Washington Post)

Apple set to unveil iPad 3 on March 7 Wednesday, March 7 is the date covetous Apple fans can finally catch their first real glimpse at the much-ballyhooed iPad 3, according to a new report. ( by Jennifer Van Grove | VentureBeat.com , VentureBeat.com)

February 11, 2012

Whitney Houston, the multimillion-selling singer who emerged in the 1980s as one of her generation’s greatest R & B voices, only to deteriorate through years of cocaine use and an abusive marriage, died on Saturday in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 48.

Her death came as the music industry descended on Los Angeles for the annual celebration of the Grammy Awards, and Ms. Houston was — for all her difficulties over the years — one of its queens. She was staying at the Beverly Hilton hotel on Saturday to attend a pre-Grammy party being hosted by Clive Davis, the founder of Arista Records, who had been her pop mentor.

Ms. Houston was found in her room at 3:55 p.m., and paramedics spent close to 20 minutes trying to revive her, the authorities said. There was no immediate word on the cause of her death, but the authorities said there were no signs of foul play.

From the start of her career more than two decades ago, Ms. Houston had the talent, looks and pedigree of a pop superstar. She was the daughter of Cissy Houston, a gospel and pop singer who had backed up Aretha Franklin, and the cousin of Dionne Warwick. (Ms. Franklin is Ms. Houston’s godmother.)

Ms. Houston’s range spanned three octaves, and her voice was plush, vibrant and often spectacular. She could pour on the exuberant flourishes of gospel or peal a simple pop chorus; she could sing sweetly or unleash a sultry rasp.

But by the mid-1990s, even as she was moving into acting with films like “The Bodyguard” and “The Preacher’s Wife,” she became what she described, in a 2009 interview with Oprah Winfrey, as a “heavy” user of marijuana and cocaine. By the 2000s she was struggling; her voice grew smaller, scratchier and less secure, and her performances grew erratic.

All of Ms. Houston’s studio albums were million-sellers, and two have sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone: her 1985 debut album and the 1992 soundtrack to “The Bodyguard,” which includes “I Will Always Love You.”

But her marriage to the singer Bobby Brown — which was, at one point, documented in a Bravo reality television series, “Being Bobby Brown” — grew miserable, and in the 2000s, her singles slipped from the top 10. Ms. Houston became a tabloid subject: the National Enquirer ran a photo of her bathroom showing drug paraphernalia. And each new album — “Just Whitney” in 2002 and “I Look to You” in 2009 — became a comeback.

At Central Park in 2009, singing for “Good Morning America,” her voice was frayed, and on the world tour that followed the release of the album “I Look to You” that year, she was often shaky. Whitney Houston was born on Aug. 9, 1963, in Newark. She sang in church, and as a teenager in the 1970s and early 1980s, she worked as a backup studio singer and featured vocalist with acts including Chaka Khan, the Neville Brothers and Bill Laswell’s Material.

Mr. Davis signed her after hearing her perform in a New York City nightclub, and spent two years supervising production of the album “Whitney Houston,” which was released in 1985. It placed her remarkable voice in polished, catchy songs that straddled pop and R & B, and it included three No. 1 singles: “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know” and “The Greatest Love of All.”

Because Ms. Houston had been credited on previous recordings, including a 1984 duet with Teddy Pendergrass, she was ruled ineligible for the best new artist category of the Grammy Awards; the eligibility criteria have since been changed. But with “Saving All My Love for You,” she won her first Grammy award, for best female pop vocal performance, an award she would win twice more.

Her popularity soared for the next decade. Her second album, “Whitney,” in 1987, became the first album by a woman to enter the Billboard charts at No. 1, and it included four No. 1 singles. She shifted her pop slightly toward R & B on her third album, “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” in 1990, which had three more No. 1 singles.

For much of the 1990s, she turned to acting, bolstered by her music. She played a pop diva in “The Bodyguard,” and its soundtrack album — including the hits “I Will Always Love You,” “I’m Every Woman,” “I Have Nothing” and “Run to You” — went on to sell 17 million copies in the United States. It won the Grammy for album of the year, and “I Will Always Love You” won record of the year (for a single). After making the films “Waiting To Exhale” in 1995 and “The Preacher’s Wife” in 1996 — which gave her the occasion to make a gospel album — Ms. Houston resumed her pop career with “My Love Is Your Love” in 1998.

Ms. Houston married Mr. Brown in 1992, and in 1993 they had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, who survives her. Ms. Houston’s 2009 interview with Ms. Winfrey portrayed it as a passionate and then turbulent marriage, marred by drug use and by his professional jealousy, psychological abuse and physical confrontations. They divorced in 2007.

Her albums in the 2000s advanced a new persona for Ms. Houston. “Just Whitney,” in 2002, was defensive and scrappy, lashing out at the media and insisting on her loyalty to her man. Her most recent studio album, “I Look to You,” appeared in 2009, and it, too, reached No. 1. The album included a hard-headed breakup song, “Salute,” and a hymnlike anthem, “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.” Ms. Houston sang, “I crashed down and I tumbled, but I did not crumble/I got through all the pain,” in a voice that showed scars. CONTINUE READING

February 06, 2012

February 03, 2012

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTSIsraeli leaders: Iran must be stopped soonOne of the bluntest warnings to date of possible airstrikes against Iranian nuclear sites adds to the anxiety in Western capitals that a surprise attack could spark a broader military conflict in the Middle East. (By Joel Greenberg and Joby Warrick)

Komen gives new explanation for cutting funds to Planned ParenthoodExecutives of the Susan G. Komen Foundation gave a new explanation Thursday of their decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, but their contradictory statements failed to quell a rising controversy that led several of the organization’s affiliates to openly rebel.(By Lena H. Sun, Sarah Kliff and N.C. Aizenman)

NATIONKomen gives new explanation for cutting funds to Planned ParenthoodExecutives of the Susan G. Komen Foundation gave a new explanation Thursday of their decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, but their contradictory statements failed to quell a rising controversy that led several of the organization’s affiliates to openly rebel. ( by Lena H. Sun, Sarah Kliff and N.C. Aizenman , The Washington Post)

Israeli leaders: Iran must be stopped soonOne of the bluntest warnings to date of possible airstrikes against Iranian nuclear sites adds to the anxiety in Western capitals that a surprise attack could spark a broader military conflict in the Middle East. ( by Joel Greenberg and Joby Warrick , The Washington Post)

Study doubles estimate of global malaria deathsThe number of people who die annually from malaria is roughly double the current estimate, with a huge overlooked death toll in adults, according to a new study. ( by David Brown , The Washington Post)

NASA: More space station delaysCrew rotation on the international space station will be delayed again after a Russian space capsule ruptured during ground tests. ( by Brian Vastag , The Washington Post)

METROVote for an extended pay freeze leaves workers coldWe asked: Congressional Republicans voted Wednesday on a bill that would freeze federal employee and congressional pay for an additional year. It’s at least the third time Republicans have made such a proposal in recent months. What do you make of the proposal? How would it affect you? (, The Washington Post)

Army veteran convicted of killing his fatherA Fairfax County jury found a 54-year-old Army veteran guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his 75-year-old father. ( by Justin Jouvenal , The Washington Post)

Md. rabbi pleads guilty in Torah fraudA Wheaton rabbi admitted in federal court that he fabricated tales of rescuing Torahs lost in the Holocaust and pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars. ( by Martha Wexler and Jeff Lunden , The Washington Post)

POLITICSObama to announce Veterans Job CorpsPresident Obama will announce details Friday for a $1 billion Veterans Job Corps that he says will put up to 20,000 veterans to work over the next five years. ( by Steve Vogel , The Washington Post)

Vote for an extended pay freeze leaves workers coldWe asked: Congressional Republicans voted Wednesday on a bill that would freeze federal employee and congressional pay for an additional year. It’s at least the third time Republicans have made such a proposal in recent months. What do you make of the proposal? How would it affect you? (, The Washington Post)

Unity eludes Nevada tea partyNevada’s tea party movement is no more united in this year’s Republican presidential nominating contest than it was in a high-profile 2010 Senate race. And that has conservatives worried. ( by Amy Gardner and David Fahrenthold , The Washington Post)

Abramoff’s back, scolding lobbyistsAl Kamen’s In the Loop spots the disgraced lobbyist at his usual deli singing a different tune, warns judicial candidates of the perils of the Thurmond Rule and bids a found farewell to Rep. Dan Burton. (, The Washington Post)

Media jumps the gun on Trump’s endorsementFor about 15 hours Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to the news media, Donald Trump was going to endorse Newt Gingrich for the Republican nomination. But actually, Trump wasn’t going to do any such thing. ( by Paul Farhi , The Washington Post)

Cubs win battle of ISL AA unbeatensGeorgetown Visitation uses its wealth of experience to break open the game in the fourth and hand Bullis its first league loss. ( by Preston Williams , The Washington Post)

Terps women bounce backPlaying for the first time since its most dispiriting loss of the season one week ago, the ninth-ranked Maryland women punished Boston College. ( by Gene Wang , The Washington Post)

Hokies manhandled by Blue DevilsNo. 7 Duke utilizes a 13-2 run late in the first half to break open a tie game in Blacksburg as sliding Virginia Tech loses for the seventh time in eight games. ( by Mark Giannotto , The Washington Post)

Israeli leaders: Iran must be stopped soonOne of the bluntest warnings to date of possible airstrikes against Iranian nuclear sites adds to the anxiety in Western capitals that a surprise attack could spark a broader military conflict in the Middle East. ( by Joel Greenberg and Joby Warrick , The Washington Post)

TECHNOLOGYFacebook is friending the fedsFacebook has put political veterans in key executive roles and is building up a powerhouse Washington lobbying operation. ( by Cecilia Kang , The Washington Post)

Facebook IPO: Top 10 surprisesUsers, relationships, revenue, profit and Zuckerberg’s security detail are among the pieces of information in the social media giant’s filing. ( by Hayley Tsukayama , The Washington Post)

BUSINESSFacebook IPO: A look at what we learned from the filingsIn filing its IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Facebook provided a long-awaited glimpse into the inner workings of one of the world’s most closely-watched companies. ( , The Washington Post)

Facebook is friending the fedsFacebook has put political veterans in key executive roles and is building up a powerhouse Washington lobbying operation. ( by Cecilia Kang , The Washington Post)

September 2012

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